Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

In the last couple of years, I have blown out both my ACLs (1. landed badly from a jump split kick, 2. lunged forward while sparring and my weight shifted badly) and had (patellar ligament) surgery to repair them. At this point, if I tear one of my ACLs again, the surgery repair will be a best-outcome day-to-day function, not good enough for athletic activity. After the first one and physical therapy, I went back to my old style. ...Not going to do that again. Also, I think my friends would restrain me if I tried.

But I want to go back to training. More carefully!

I'm looking for something interesting (preferably not Tai Chi) and physically challenging that's good on the knees. That means fewer cutting and twisting activities (like landing from jump spin kicks). Specific schools would need to be in Minneapolis, probably uptown/downtown/south.

I have read that Judo and Tae Kwon Do are both very bad for this. One of my friends recommended Aikido, but it's hard to find actual information on injury rates.

Any links to actual statistics for ACL injury rates compared between MA styles would be awesome! I tried to find 'em, but my Google-fu failed me.

Ideas?

Edited to add: Not going with Aikido, alas, fairly high injury rates, though it's hard to find specifics on ACLs--I plan on checking out a Shotokan Karate school soon. Seems like that may be best? Non-contact sparring, more structured movements, fewer fancy kicks.... I'll need to talk with the instructor etc. of course, but I liked the school Adam pointed to.

Things done today:
* Had one-month post-surgery knee checkup. Everything looks fine, my mobility is good for the time range, and I've got a prescription to start doing "official" physical therapy. The appointment was for 8:30 a.m. Phil got up and went to work, I rolled over in bed and tried to go back to sleep (which also was bad because it would have left kitten unfed and unwiped). Fortunately Phil remembered I had a doctor's appointment and came back and got me. Whew! Good husband earns brownie points. Between that and him putting up with pain-and-sleep-deprivation-induced crankiness, I think there will be the baking of brownies this weekend. (Yes, my brownie points are literal.)
* Finished writing my after-the-end-of-the-world short story, "Missing You In Pieces." Only about 600 words over-budget. Stay tuned for the critiquers call.
* Started weaning the kitten by mooshing formula with kitten food pate and letting him eat it off my finger after he'd had some straight formula. He likes the idea a lot, but he's shaky on implementing it. He ended up wearing a large amount of the food.
* Witnessed kitten's first solid bowel movement. Kitten formula may have the things a growing kitten needs, but it's not 100% ideal for their digestive system. There have been poosplosions. This is a huge improvement. I have hopes he may soon start using his litter box, too.

Things forgotten at home when I went to the job:
* Thumb drive with my writing files on it.
* MP3 player with things to listen to if there's office projects (so far, no).

Food things acquired recently:
* On my way home yesterday I picked up fat-free Target fudgesicles (better than sugar-free, because I despise the taste of artificial sweeteners--and alas that fudgesicles are one of those things that are difficult to find in an unaltered state), blueberry toaster strudel, and DanActive (for the taste--reminds me of tasty sweet Nigerian yogurt drinks, or of sweet lassi).
* Phil, because he knows what makes me happy, bought real fudgesicles for me on his way home. He's definitely getting brownies.
* The CSA was duly split last night, so I have many tasty vegetables and some tasty fruit. Yellow watermelon is heaven. Also need good tomato recipes.
* On my way to work this afternoon, I was handed a bag of pretzel crisps and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. Yum. La vache qui rit cheese always reminds me of growing up in French-colonized West Africa. And I love working in downtown, where free things are handed out on the street corners quite regularly in summer.

And lo, Phil did bring home Taco Bell supreme tacos for dinner. And there was happiness and the contented silence of chewing deliciousness. And it was good.

x-posted to Fb/LJ--

I am doing better. Better than I was immediately after surgery, and definitely better than I was at this point in my recovery after my first ACL knee surgery. I have a little bruising in addition to the incision, and some pain, but nowhere near as much as I did last time. I'm not out of my head from pain or painkillers, also unlike last time.

This time, they didn't find any meniscus damage (or very very little) when they went in to do surgery, so everything took the projected amount of time and all they had to do was repair the ACL and take care of some abrasiveness on the underside of my knee cap. I had a cold, so they couldn't put me under general anesthesia like they did last time. The anesthesiologist said it was probably better not to anyway. So I got a spine nerve block and another nerve block on my leg to help with the incision. I was wide awake all the way to the operating room, where they put in the nerve blocks and then gave me a sedative, and I woke up still in the operating room, instead of several hours later in the recovery room. They also sent me home with a fanny pack holding a softball-sized bag of anesthetic that fed an IV line into my leg for the first three days to help get me past the worst of it. Brand name? O-no.

I can get around on my own wearing a thigh-to-ankle immobilizing brace and using crutches, though the brace hurts to wear. I tried to do a little with one crutch so I could carry things with the other hand, and that was not such a good idea. The pain pills are doing a pretty good job of controlling my pain, though alas, they are not super-fun pain pills--I'm neither pleasantly muzzy-headed nor filled with warm fuzzies. I've begun doing the most basic physical therapy exercises: putting my leg up on a chair and letting it hang; and trying to bend my knee without putting any weight on it. They hurt. I cannot bend my leg yet, but the straightening seems to be going well, as it has since I injured my knee.

I'm spending all my time on the couch in the living room, either reading the internet (email, blogs, newsletters, etc.), watching TV, or sleeping. Pain wakes me up when the pills wear off, so I've been sleeping very irregularly at night, and I tend to take 3-4 naps during the day, whenever I get sleepy, which is regularly. I've finished watching all of Criminal Minds on DVD, all of True Blood on DVD, the 2nd-to-last season of Monk, and I'm about to finish the first season of Buffy (rewatch, borrowed from a friend). I'm catching up on my writing newsletters, and I'm pleased that I'm clear-headed enough to actually get some writing-related work (and soon, writing!) done, though I'm cutting myself a whole lotta slack. Did I mention 3-4 naps a day?


WARNING: Beyond this point, there may be TMI and photographs.


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x-post Fb/LJ--

The knee surgery to replace my ACL is scheduled for this coming Monday, and I can hardly think of anything else. It's worse because I know what to expect this time around (I had the other knee repaired about a year and a half ago). I have no energy, no willpower, and my impulse control is remarkably poor. I think all my strength and willpower is going to the not-freaking-out-about-imminent-surgery project. With mixed results.

I've dealt with work emails. I've gotten my teeth inspected and (my very first) cavities taken care of. I've bought skirts and loose-fitting pants for post-surgery work wear. My family visited us and we visited Phil's family. I went to the opera, the zoo, and the Walker Art Museum*. I went to a nice restaurant with Phil last night for the last time for a while. I have a bed.

There's no way I'm hitting my Vicesteed editing goal before surgery--I'd hoped to finish this draft, but I'm only to Chapter 20. And writing/editing/anything time will be pretty much non-existent for the next couple of months, mostly because I'll be too muzzy-headed to do anything quality. I suppose I could write short stories, because it matters less if I muck those up.

There are still other things I want/need to get done before surgery. I'd like to get my bike fixed, so I can use it for physical therapy during the recovery (once I'm somewhat mobile). I'd like to get the dishwasher fixed, but that requires one more part to arrive and then a scheduled appointment with a repair guy. There's a wedding, and the surrounding events. There's the MNSpec writing meeting and critique session (the day before surgery), that I still need to get critiques done for. I need to finish uploading and labeling at least the 2009 orientation photos. I'd like to go to the MoA and look for more post-surgery clothes and comfortable dress shoes and tiny earrings, but that seems a distant possibility. I'd like to go to Fire Roast Mountain coffee shop in the afternoon this weekend, but other events may interfere. Oh, and I need to pay bills and see about that property tax refund and...and...clean the house really thoroughly one last time, and--.



* While I'm still a walker. Get it?

Since biking home from work seems to be going well (no excessive knee pain or swelling), today I started biking both ways. I can do this because I'm now working in a large office that actually has !showers! for people to use.

Following the 11 bus route path, it took me 23 minutes to get to work, as good or better than busing time. Showering* took an extra 10 minutes, but I figure getting more of a workout is worth it. The 11 route has a number of small hills and doesn't have a separate bike lane, but is mostly along residential, not-too-busy streets.

This means I'm biking round-trip about 7 miles in roughly an hour every day. Don't even ask how much of that time is spent getting in and out of downtown. The construction has made traffic truly horrifying; I have yet to find a ninja route out. Still, it's a reasonable amount of exercise, though I really, really miss being able to get a hard workout in martial arts classes. I'm becoming all--soft. Grump.

But! Biking is good. It takes away my morning reading time on the bus, but now that I have a bed and a nightstand (it was the Weekend of Acquisition), I plan to put a lamp on said nightstand and start reading for a little while before bed. This might also help me with my longstanding getting-to-bed-on-time problem.


* Showering means I have to pack my work clothes with me, and a towel, and (apparently--there's supposed to be shower gel but it was almost empty) soap. I was irritated to discover that there was no way I could McGhiever the ottoman in the shower room into a secret hideyhole for my soap and towel. Well, not without serious construction. Which I'm still pondering. I could saw a door and hinge it and put a little lock on it and I bet nobody would notice....

Attended: Writers Workshop, The Gathering, Writing in the Recession, First Wiscon Dinner, Opening Ceremonies, Haiku Earring Party, Livejournal Party.

Missed due to excessive haiku-writing: Ghostly Ladies. By the time I got there, it was standing room only, and that's not a good option for me right now, what with the whole "missing parts of knee" thing.

Made: Necklace/nametag chain of miscellaneous orange, brown, cream and red beads.

Gave away: Lots and lots of calling cards.

Met: Lots of lovely people.

Acquired: 3 crits of the first 3 chapters of Vicesteed, Star Trek sign, keychain, yo-yo, green bolo tie, 3 printed book excerpts, some business cards, and a pair of beautiful flowerlike blue earrings titled "Graduation at Pixie High."

Bought: 1 breakfast pasty (Not Good), 1 dinner at Nepali restaurant (Quite Good).

04/27/2009 - Monday, full work
* Nothing--I think. My schedule right now is, "Work full time, come home and make dinner, do physical therapy exercises, go to sleep. Rinse, repeat." I really, really need to figure out how to wedge writing/editing/submitting stories time in there. Oh, wait! I read Poets & Writers on the bus ride to work. So that counts for a little.

04/26/2009 - Sunday, no work, but party cleanup and setting up a new computer, which kinda interfered with my work flow.
* Set up Google Profile. Yes, this counts as writing work, because a significant portion of that is getting your name out. Also added the profile info to my "places to update info" file--a crucial thing to have once you get a certain number of social networks/bios circulating.
* Made editing changes to Vicesteed ch. 15.
* Printed and filed 3 Critters critique of Vicesteed chapters 24-25.

04/25/2009 - Saturday, no work, but did host Phil's birthday non-party from noon on.
* penthius freewriting (though you can't see it because it's one of those very rare "the idea is all" stories, inspired by one of the sets of guidelines I read. So unfortunately it also comes with a deadline.
* Read WritersWeekly, 2 Duotrope, 2 FundsforWriters, Critters, FFWSmallMarkets newsletters.
* Updated Aswiebe's Market List from the above newsletters.
* Thanked 2 critters for their crits of Vicesteed.
* Processed The Opinion Guy's form rejection of "The Radiator Burped."
* Processed Fusion Fragment's form rejection of "A Phoenix By Any Other Name."writing log.
* Posted writing log.

04/19/2009 - Sunday, no work
* Did 3rd of 4 critiques for MinnSpec--was still 1 crit behind at the meeting. Excuses, I haz dem.
* MinnSpec writers group meeting and workshop. We discussed finding time and motivation to write, though it made a predictable sidetrack into the whole "organic" writing thing that many members seem to be enthralled by.

Note to self: Posting these dratted notations of things done and undone and half-done is a necessary writing discipline. So do it every day, already! Sure, there were knee injuries and drugs and way too much work at the day job. So what? That is the way it will be, but the basic writing disciplines must hold.